2011 Diseno Old Vine Malbec

Dave and Heather came over a bit earlier than our other guests on Saturday. We needed to check the sugar level in the Port we were fermenting in my office. We have a pretty convenient setup where as our carboy is sitting on a cabinet with wheels. We wheel the cabinet over to the sink where we clean and sanitize our tools before we test the must.

After we were done checking the port it was time for a social hour. It was after 5 pm so we were good to go right? 😉

Dave pulled out a 2011 Diseno Old Vine Malbec that he recently bought from one of the online wine-selling outlets. I have had a couple really good Malbec’s in the past and since this was a pretty young one we decided to decant it. We poured the wine into my decanter and then proceeded to “shake the crap out of it”! If you want to age a young wine, use a decanter and shake it so it creates a foam in the decanter. Do not worry you cannot hurt a young wine doing this. I would not recommend shaking an older wine but using the decanter to remove sediment.

After a good shaking, I grabbed my tasting sheet and a couple of glasses. By now the girls were on their second really cold Miller light beer so we left them alone as they were playing cards.

Here are my tasting notes

Sight
2011 Malbec looked really purple and the color depth was deep. There was no sediment in the decanter or our glasses.

Smell
Very aromatic due to the rigorous shaking in the decanter. We could smell Blueberry, Jammy like fruits, Smokey, and Chocolate.

Taste
2011 Malbec was not dry at all. I was surprised there were no noticeable tannins. For the most part, the wine was pretty flavorful but it was hard to really pinpoint distinct fruit flavors. We did think we could taste Bing Cherry. The finish was long and was felt in our mid palate.

ABV: 13.5%

We rated 2011 Diseno Old Vine Malbec two glasses after decanting. Chris eventually tried it too, but she did not like it at all. She poured her glass into mine and asked me to find another bottle to share! I have had Malbec’s in the past, this one just did not do anything for us.

I would recommend trying the 2011 Diseno Old Vine Malbec with a meal. Maybe something with sausages or something slightly spiced like Jumbo shrimp.

Life is too short to drink crappy wine. Expand your palate and keep trying.